Contacting apparatus



Nov. 13, 1951 I NT ,R 2,575,186

CONTACTING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 16, 1949 2 SHEETS SHEET l FlG.l

d INVENTOR.

CHARLES J. RYAN'IQJR.

ATTORNEY.

NOV. 13, 1951 Q Y N JR CONTACTING APPARATUS 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 Filed Dec. 16, 1949 FIG. 3

FIG.4

INVENTOR. CHARLES J. RYANT, JR.

ATTORNEY.

Iatented Nov. 13, 1951 s PATENT OFFICE CONTACTING APPARATUS Charles J. Ryant, In, Chicago, 111., assignor to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, 111., a'corporation of Indiana Application December 16, 1949, Serial No. 133,435

This invention relates to a fractionating tower structure and more particularly to the structure of contacting elements in a fractionatin'g tower and apparatus for supporting said elements. The invention is illustrated by drawings which show diagrammatically in Figure 1 a vertical cross section of a fractionating' tower shell showing tray-supporting members and the manner of introducing the trays into the tower.

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross section of the fractionating tower shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a fractionating tray.

Figure 4 is a cross section of the tray shown in Figure 3 with caps omitted; and

Figure 5 is a section thru a bubble cap of the tray shown in Figure 3 illustrating the flow of liquid and vapor therethru.

In the fractionation of liquids and contacting liquids with vapors generally, there are well recognized advantages to the use of bubble trays instead of loose packing. However, with towers of small diameter, e. g. one-half to three feet'di- 3 Claims. (Cl. 261-114) ameter, where it is not possible for a workman to enter for installing or cleaning bubble trays, it has heretofore been the practice in placing bubble trays into towers to separate the tower into sections, place one or two trays in each section and bolt a plurality of'the sections together to form fractionating tower in which the fractionating trays are pre-assembled in a unit and introduced into the tower either from the bottom or the top. It has heretofore been the practice in the case of towers of larger diameter, e. g. three feet and wider, to construct the fractionating trays in sections which are assembled within the tower. Such sections 'have usually been made narrow and are introduced thru manways in the side of the tower. Another object of my invention is to eliminate this time-consuming practice. I

According to my invention, the fractionating tray, fully assembled outside the tower, is constructed in circular form with a diameter slightly less than the internal diameter of the cylindrical tower. The tray is lowered into the tower in an edgewise or vertical position, passing thru slots or cutaway sections in the tray-supporting rings which are fastened to the inside tower wall. The supporting rings are preferably constructed of angle iron bars which are formed into an arcuate pattern, each are extending over an angle of approximately to degrees more or less, de-

pending on the structure of the fractionating tray. Two of the arcuate supporting members are fastened at a given level to the inside wall of the tower shell, usually by bolting, riveting or welding, and provide a ledge for supporting the tray while leaving a gap or slot thru which the tray can be passed when installing.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, the arcuate supporting members are shown at i0 fastened to the'inner wall of the tower shell I I. 7 Supports l0 'form a supporting ring at each level with a gap l2 on opposite sides of the tower. The gaps or slots thus provided are aligned from top to bottom of the tower thus permitting the fractionating trays 9 to bepassed edgewise up or down thru the tower by means of ropes or cables I3 temporarily fastened to the tray. When the tray has been lowered into the space provided for it, it can be turned to a horizontal position by properly manipulating the supporting ropes or cables l3 and M. The spacing between the adjacent tray supportsis sufllcient to permit the trays being rotated thru an angle of 90 degrees and brought to rest upon the support below. The vertical distance between adjacent rings, i. e. the tray spacing, should be about three-fifths to fourfifths the diameter of the tower, depending on thickness of tray, diameter of tower, width of slots in ring supports, etc. After all the trays have been placed in position in the manner described, the head or cover plate, not shown, is bolted onto the tower by means of flange ii. In Figure 2 the contacting element 9 is shown passing edgewise thru the slots in supporting ring I0.

Referring now to Figure 3,'a suitable contacting tray is shown constructed of a recessed plate It with spaced elongated risers II. It is desirable to construct the plate with a flange i8 shown in Figure 4, which is a cross section of the tray of Figure 3. Key plate l9 can be provided on:opposite sides of the tray, preferably withabout the same configuration as that of the slots I! in supporting ring [0, so that when the tray is in the correct position the keys pass thru the slots in the supporting ring. By turning the tray slightly, the keys slide beneath the support and serve to lock the tray in position on the supporting ring, thus preventing the tray being shifted by pressure surges from beneath. A seal between the tray and the tower wall is provided by the upper sur- 3 face of the supporting ring in contact with the bottom of the tray or lower bearing face of the flange where one is provided. If desired, a suitable gasket material can be fastened to the tray or to the supporting rings to reduce the amount of leakage of vapor or liquid between the tray and the tower wall.

The vapor risers ll of tray l6 extend into s able bubble caps 20 as shown in Figure 5, which illustrate the operation of a bubble cap and riser serving the function of both vapor contacting device and reflux liquid downcomer. The upper edges of riser l1 and the lower edges of the skirt on cap 28 are suitably serrated to provide for more even distribution of liquid and vapor. It is desirable to space the cap in a fixed position above the riser with the edges of the cap and the riser at substantially the same level. Contact between vapors and liquid is obtained partly by bubbling thru the liquid, particularly at high rates of liquid flow as in a stripping tower, and partly by contact between vapor and liquid cascading from tray to tray.

Referring now to Figure 3, when it is necessary to remove trays from the tower for cleaning or repair, this is done by'the reverse procedure of attaching cables or ropes to the trays, e. g. by means of suitable hooks, and lifting the trays from their position in the fractionating tower as indicated in Figure 2. It is'not necessary to keep the fractionating tower out of service until the trays are cleaned but new trays can be substituted for those removed from the tower and thus the tower can be quickly put back into service.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

l. Contacting apparatus which comprises a vertical cylindrical tower, a plurality of circular fractionating trays each having a diameter slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the tower, a plurality of pairs of horizontally mounted, vertically spaced, arcuate tray-supporting members fixed to the inner wall of said tower, each member extending through an arc of ap- 4 proximately -170, the members of each pair being spaced from each other at each end to form slots of suflicient width to permit passage therethrough of the outer edges of a tray hen the tray is in vertical position, the slots be een the pairs of arcuate members being vertically aligned and the vertical distance between adjacent pairs of members beina at least about three flfths of the tower diameter andsuflicient to permit rotation of trays from a vertical to a horizontal position, the lower peripheral surfaces of each tray resting upon the upper surfaces of the arcuate members to form a fluid seal when the trays are in horizontal position, and risers superimtal position and beingspaced from the lower outer surfaces of the tray at a distance at least equal to the thickness of the arcuate members so that a slight rotation of the tray on the supporting arcuate members will cause the key plates to pass closely underneath said members to lock the tray in position.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the risers and caps extend continuously from one side of the tray to the other and are thus elongated and rectangular in shape.

CHARLES J. RYANT, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name Date 1,667,136 Alexander Apr. 24, 1928 1,686,542 Winkler et a1 Oct. 9, 1928 1,953,480 Hart Apr. 3, 1934 2,147,786 Fenske et al Feb. 21, 1939 

